What You Don’t Realise When I’m at Home with a Thyroid Flare Up

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Originally published on 24th January 2017Last updated on 20th March 2019

These days, I don’t often take time off work or cancel plans due to my hypothyroidism. But every now and then, I may need to due to a flare up. In fact, before I was properly medicated for it, I needed a lot of time off work.

There are some things a lot of people don’t realise about me taking days off for autoimmune thyroid disease. Sure, I’m not coughing, being sick or have diarrhoea. But I am unwell and I need to be at home. So trust my judgement.

The Pain

For me, this pain feels like a load of tiny people are lined up against all of my muscles and bones, and banging them with lots of teeny tiny hammers, all at different times but all equally as hard.

Imagine when you’ve had the flu, and the aches and pains you felt with it. I’ve had swine flu and another flu that put me in hospital with pneumonia, yet I’m telling you that hypothyroid aches and pains are worse than the ones I experienced with the flu. The pain is so bad that I find it hard to distract myself from it and often find myself crying without even knowing. It has kept me awake at night and tends to only be soothed with a hot water bottle or bath.

The trouble with that, is that I’m often too fatigued to get myself to the bathroom or kitchen to run a bath or make a hot water bottle. Usually, I have to wait until my husband is home so he can help me up the stairs and get in to the bath safely, as I’ve slipped before when trying to get in unwell.

The Fatigue

The hypothyroid fatigue many experience leaves them unable to climb stairs. Unable to get to the end of the street. Or even unable to get themselves to the toilet or kitchen to get food.

We’re so tired that we feel nauseous and think we’re going mad.

You’re probably thinking ‘then take a nap’ or ‘have a lie-in’.

Ahhhhh, if only!

The problem with hypothyroidism is that the metabolism slows down due to the lack of thyroid hormone in the body, and with this not only comes weight fluctuations, but also a lack of energy. Because of this, we could nap several times a day, get twelve hours sleep a night and often still feel no better. It’s frustrating. It’s upsetting. It’s even scary.

Especially if you have a job to do, family to run and roof to keep over your head.

The Brain Fog

Lack of thyroid hormone also causes knock-on effects with brain function, which takes us on to another very common symptom; brain fog.

Brain fog is often described as feelings of mental confusion or lack of mental clarity. The phrase comes from the feeling of a fog that reduces your ability to think clearly. It can feel like a mental block. It can cause a person to become forgetful, detached and discouraged.

I’ve had days where I got up at 9am, had breakfast, watched some TV, did some things, then come 12pm, couldn’t remember what I’d done all day.

Thanks to thyroid brain fog, I’ve tried getting in to a neighbour’s house with my front door key and I’ve put laundry in the bin instead of the washing machine. I’ve learnt to laugh about some of it, but it’s still scary.

Brain fog can cause us to have slow reactions, speak slower and muddle up words. Confusion is common.

Another reason why we may be better off not at work during a flare – saying the wrong thing to a customer, mixing up files or inputting figures wrong on the computer can land us and our employer in potentially big trouble.

The Cold Sensitivity

I’ve layered up with four duvets, the central heating and fire on before, and still felt freezing. Therefore, being at work, where it is likely colder than that, also drafty and people wanting air-con on or windows open, can be painful for thyroid patients.

When we’re already so cold, extra coldness can make our bones really ache and affect our concentration since more thyroid hormone is being used to try and generate body heat as oppose to good brain function or energy.

The Mental Health Struggles

Many people with thyroid disease also experience mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. These alone can be torture to live with, with or without the physical symptoms on top. What might make perfect sense to you, could be difficult for someone with a mental illness, to grasp. Mental illness can make you look at things irrationally and emotions heightened. The slightest thing can make you crumble to pieces.

A day alone with our own thoughts might be what we need. Maybe we can’t even muster getting out of bed today due to the sickness in our stomach called anxiety. Or the impending doom and gloom hanging over us from depression.

Please don’t judge what you don’t experience.

And You Forget About How We Feel

Do you think we enjoy taking time off work? Do you think anyone who is unwell does? If you’re off work due to vomiting, diarrhoea, flu or a virus, is it fun and enjoyable? Not at all. Wouldn’t you rather be at work feeling well, rather than off work feeling horrible?

So how is that different to someone with a chronic illness or health condition such as thyroid disease?

We don’t like calling in sick. We feel bad and guilty about it. We’re not faking, we’re legitimately very unwell, but society says we shouldn’t be; we should be at work.

Unfortunately, thyroid disease often isn’t as simple to manage as many people think it is, and has the tendency to flare up from time to time. It isn’t always easy to know when it will get worse before it does, either.

Please bear all this is mind, the next time someone you know with hypothyroidism or even any other chronic illness, needs a day at home. We really are trying our best and this isn’t easy to live with.

You can click on the hyperlinks in the above post to learn more and see references to information given.

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As flares are usually only short term (e.g. from a day to a couple of weeks), no I do not. If you are feeling unwell for a long time and require a med increase, this isn’t really a flare up but more just a slide back in to hypo if you will.

I am so relieved to know someone else experiences these “flare ups.” I’ve been dismissed by several doctors when I described what I was feeling. “Oh, you must have a virus. . .” They are definitely triggered by stress. My worst experience lasted 10 days, during which I lost 15 pounds. I’m curious if any of the standard thyroid blood tests would show the fluctuation we feel, if they were taken during a flare up?